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FBI Alerts about Scam E-Mail Affecting Montanans

The FBI offices of El Paso and Salt Lake City have reported a scam e-mail which's circulating to target Montana residents, published 7KBZK dated November 29, 2011.

Essentially, according to FBI's Billings-located division, residents of Montana have reported of one fake e-mail, which states that the bureau officials seized a box containing huge cash from an airport at Texas as the box was getting moved to the e-mail receiver's residence. There's also a reply demanded otherwise the e-mail receiver will be arrested, the message warns. Indeed it makes the recipient think the message is really from the El Paso office of FBI.

Furthermore, according to FBI, it's aware of one individual-or-more, who may've dispatched cash as an answer to the spurious e-mail, without seeing the clue suggestive of the e-mail's fraudulent nature.

However, security researchers said that e-mail scam using FBI's name was extremely normal. Earlier too several instances had been detected wherein the scammers utilized FBI's name to entice recipients. The only explanation attributed to that was the reputation and eminence of FBI amidst people in USA and outside, the researchers contended.

Aside this, some widely known events too helped spread the scam like recently, the FBI, on the eve of Cyber-Monday (November 28, 2011), advised online shoppers to exercise caution when they searched for deals. Essentially, e-mail frauds or scams comprise gift cards that are stolen and sold on auction websites for lower than usual rates; and fraudulent, spoofed or phishing e-mails promoting branded goods, which are actually pirated merchandise or re-dispatched goods that are bought using filched credit cards.

Thus, the FBI cautions all people surfing on the Web for avoiding answering the dubious electronic mail. It also suggests exercising caution with them, particularly if the e-mails assert they've crucial files as attachments, since the files can carry malware. Also, people should open merely those e-mail attachments whose sources are familiar to them, while it's important doing a virus scrutiny over all e-mail attachments prior to viewing them. Lastly, when end-users get an unsolicited electronic mail, they should forward it at IC3.gov (a government website) followed with deleting it permanently.